240 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



Eastern Mediterranean is to travel by the steamers of 

 the Austrian Lloyd Company, having always found 

 them in every way excellent, we gave each other a 

 rendezvous at the Piraeus for Monday, December 4, 

 and went our several ways. I personally adopted my 

 usual plan of travelling by Harwich and Rotterdam, 

 thus obtaining a good passage and a comfortable 

 night's sleep. Strange to say, of the many steamers 

 and sailing craft I made use of on this trip, I had 

 rough weather on all, save and except the two cross- 

 ings of the North Sea — out and home again. 



On Tuesday morning (November 28) I embarked on 

 one of the fine Lloyd steamers at Trieste, and after a 

 most villainous passage, during a good deal of which 

 I was the only passenger able to be present in the 

 saloon at meal-times, we reached Corfu on Thursday 

 afternoon. I disembarked here in. order to devote two 

 spare days to old friends in preference to spending 

 them at Athens ; and on the Saturday night, taking 

 the same Greek line as on my previous trip, I sailed 

 for the Piraeus, arriving there on the morning of the 

 appointed day. The Messageries steamer, however, 

 was very late, and did not come in till nearly dark, 

 making me fear that we should lose the Greek 

 steamer, and consequently, the weekly boat to Milo 

 from Syra. Meanwhile I had made out the dragoman 

 and camp servant whom Y. had engaged through the 

 Athens Vice-Consulate. Although a most worthy and 

 excellent person, and doubtless invaluable in his own 

 particular line — that of personally conducting the 

 British tourist round the Greek antiquities most 

 generally visited by them — old Thomas was perhaps 

 hardly the man for a rough shooting trip in un- 

 inhabited islands. Still, I am bound to admit he 



